5 Things To Start Now To Look Younger Than Your Friends in 10 Years’ Time

If you ever need a reminder at how fast you might be aging, look at your friends. Women, especially, age at dramatic speed once they hit 35, and after they have had kids. If you are still quite happy with the way you look, congratulations! But time does have its way of creeping up on people, and who’s to say who will look better as they age?

Well, I have always been careful of the saying “burning the candle at both ends”, and now, in my late 30s, I am fairly comforted by the fact that I look younger than my real age. It takes a bit of effort, a little investment but you will thank yourself when you go for your next class reunion and log that youthful-looking face in a photo.

Build Up Your Collagen Bank

Invest in collagen stimulating treatments from your 30s. Your skin will thank you when it stays lifted 10 years later!

First of all, think of your skin’s collagen stores like a piggy bank. Collagen is abundant (like how parents put hard-earned money raising children) when we are young, but this reservoir diminishes steadily as we get older. The quality of collagen produced as we age is also poorer. Build up your collagen with non-invasive skin lifting procedures, such as Ultherapy Face and Neck.

Ultherapy is FDA-approved for skin lifting of the face and neck. Targeting the deeper SMAS layer which is collagen and elastin-rich, it is also the layer plastic surgeons target in a surgical facelift procedure. Ultherapy accurately targets this layer with focused ultrasound energy and delivers energy to it. This contracts the SMAS tissue, stimulating production of new collagen and elastin, resulting in a clever, natural-looking facelift effect. Results can usually be appreciated after 3 months and only needs to be done once a year usually.

The Trinity Facelift Program at SW1 Clinic combines Ultherapy and Thermage for the ultimate lift. According to Dr Chua Han Boon, Medical Consultant at SW1, who was part of the team of doctors originally from The Sloane Clinic, which pioneered the use of Ultherapy in Singapore, when Thermage is combined with Ultherapy, you achieve skin lifting and skin tightening at the same time. This translates to firmer, and more supple skin in the long run.

This is my collagen banking holy grail. I do not notice a super obvious facelift effect like those transformed after an open facelift, but it definitely does something to make my facial skin stay in a happy place. In fact having done it for 3 consecutive years now, I am noticing that I haven’t aged much at all!

Botox Prejuvenation

Revisit the idea of Botox only after wrinkles become obvious. Instead, younger people are starting mild Botox early to delay the formation of wrinkles.

According to Dr Michelle Lim, a who is also a Medical Consultant at the SW1 Clinic, wrinkles are formed after repeated creasing of the skin. In the past, people used to turn to Botox to freeze portions of their faces, so that limited muscle movement will prevent skin creasing and soften the appearance of already formed wrinkles. Botox prejuvenation is the concept of delaying the formation of wrinkles in the first place. This is done in younger people from the age of late 20s to mildly relax muscles of the forehead, frown lines between the eyebrows, and smile lines outside the eyes (crow’s feet).

“The best thing about Botox prejuvenation treatments such as Micro-Refine is that you are only trying to relax the important muscles, so smaller doses are often enough, and does not affect natural expression at all”, says Dr Michelle, whose youngest Botox patient is just 25 years old. “People are not giving the aging process any chances at all”.

Fill

Who says injecting fillers means looking fake? Fillers can sculpt, lift, and even hydrate to ensure your skin is always healthy and glowing.

Facial volume deflation is a result of aging. Older people generally look more gaunt. Filler hydroliftis an elegant procedure at fills and mildly lifts the lower face with natural dermal fillers, while Revitalift Face gives tired, dehydrated skin a boost with very soft, watery hyaluronic acid fillers placed into the skin, giving sallow skin a dewy sheen.

In case you are worried about fillers, hyaluronic acid fillers are made of molecules of hyaluronic acid (like those found naturally in your own skin), and chemically cross-linked for longevity, lasting between 6 to 18 months, depending on the level of cross-linking. Your body breaks these down naturally over time and any results that are less than satisfactory can be easily “erased” by injecting a simple enzyme that breaks the filler down in no time.

Resurface

SW1 Clinic’s SmartX lite and BB Aquatouch lasers resurface the skin, downtime is minimal and you get smoother or glowing skin within 1 week.

Fine lines can’t quite be botoxed away, so the best thing to do to keep them away and to tighten the skin (pore-to-pore tightening) is to have regular resurfacing lasers done. There is a complete world of lasers that normal people except doctors don’t know of. SW1 Clinic’s Dazzling Skin Program uses the SmartX carbon dioxide laser which smoothens and brightens the skin at the same time. For a textural and pigment reset, try their Baby Skin Program, which uses the BB Aquatouch laser, my personal favourite. My skin is baby smooth after about 5 days and does an amazing illumination of my skin. Makeup glides on flawlessly and my pores are remarkably smaller.

Don’t Forget The Neck And The Eyes

Wanna look truly younger when you are older, don’t forget to take care of the skin around the neck and the eyes as well.

May I remind that despite a young-looking face, wrinkles and dry skin on the neck and around eyes are dead give-away signs of aging. So collagen banking and resurfacing princples also apply for the neck and the eyes!

Healthy Living

Lastly, ensure you have adequate sleep, keeping yourself well hydrated with at least 2.5 litres of water per day and staying away from bad habits such as alcohol and smoking will keep dull and aged skin away!